Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) released the following statement after the Obama administration released ten Guantanamo Bay detainees to Oman:

“According to the administration’s own figures, more than 30 percent of detainees released from the prison at Guantanamo Bay have returned to the terrorist battlefield.  The 93 who remain are among the most hardened and highly trained terrorists.  Releasing them – or bringing them to U.S. soil – simply to fulfill a political promise will not make America safer. 

“The administration’s mad rush to push detainees on allies and partners has to stop.  We still don’t have the full story about how six hardened al-Qaeda fighters were released to Uruguay – and allowed to live just blocks from our embassy – with no real plans to monitor or restrict their activities.  That’s why I will soon push legislation to bring much-needed transparency to this process.  Americans deserve to know who the administration will release next, where they are going, and what confidence the administration has they won’t return to terrorist activities.” 

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